What connection do air conditioning, airlines and education have with today's overheated political climate? Each has contributed to the lack of understanding, empathy and tolerance. And the results are increasingly devastating.

What connection do air conditioning, airlines and education have with today's overheated political climate? Each has contributed to the lack of understanding, empathy and tolerance. And the results are increasingly devastating.

Food "in.se.cu.ri.ty" (noun) the state of being without reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable nutritious food.

Depending on whom you ask, this means different things to different groups. I counted at least 11 web sites on the Internet that had different definitions of food insecurity. The number of food insecure households in Columbia County is difficult to get because it is calculated differently by different agencies. I feel that food insecurity is being well addressed in Columbia County.

Thanksgiving dinner assignments from "headquarters" arrived by electronic mail early in the week. The yearly assignment email tethers itself to the same type of suspense as the big present tucked behind the Christmas tree. Just like putting on a happy face when the big gift turns out to be a vacuum cleaner, polite acceptance of one's Thanksgiving dinner assignment demonstrates good upbringing.

Several years ago I attended a different kind of Thanksgiving program. Instead of telling what we were most thankful for, we were asked to name something we were thankful we did not have. This novel idea has become a Thanksgiving habit of mine ever since.